Navarro County Texas Archives History - Books .....Introduction 1933
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Book Title: Chapter II Indian Troubles

CHAPTER II

INDIAN TROUBLES


     SINCE the first written history of incidents, in what is now Navarro
County, is so interesting it is reproduced herewith as a clear delineation of
one of hundreds of such which the early settler was forced to expect before he
could make for himself a home in this strange new outpost of civilization.

       This first record of events occurring in Navarro County was of
occurrences in the spring of 1838. An account of it was published in 1860 in the
Navarro Express, the county paper at that time. The record was written by Col.
W. F. Henderson, whom many now living remember, who died at his home in
Corsicana not so many years ago. He came with a party of men surveying for the
State of Texas with the purpose of organizing a new county. Following is his
description of the expedition:

       "Early in the Spring of 1838, having received a deputation to survey and
locate land in Robertson Land District, I started from a point soon after known
as Old Franklin with about fourteen men and reached Old Parkers Fort, or
Springfield, then a settlement of about twelve families. The Fort had been
surprised and violently assaulted the year before by the Indians, several
Indians being killed, while the wife and children of one of the settlers, Mr.
Parker, were captured and held as prisoners.

       "After waiting there a day or two for Colonel Richard Sparks and party of
Land Locators to join us from Fort Houston on the other side of the Trinity (now
Palestine) we started; leaving word for Sparks to follow us, and ran a
connecting line from the highest point of the Navasota River to Pin Oak Creek,
striking it not far from its mouth where it runs into Richland Creek.

       "Just before reaching Pin Oak Creek and as I was surveying said line we
heard two rifle shots in quick succession. I remarked that Holland (a man in my
employ) could hardly load and fire so rapidly. This aroused our suspicion of
foul play; however, we surveyed on and reached Pin Oak that night, struck camp
and with little degree of uneasiness awaited Holland's arrival but he came not.
Next morning my surveying partner and I commenced surveying different tracts.
This separated our little band in half with several miles distance between us in
the course of our surveying during the day.

     'The following night we met and camped together without any alarming
incident having occurred to make us apprehend danger from hostile Indians except
the disappearance of Holland which alone should have put us on our guard but
really we were so hopeful of his return that the suspicion of a contrary fate
did not then arise.

       "The next morning, after nearly starving on one turkey to fourteen men,
we proceeded to work. My other hunter, Rogers, being now alarmed would scarcely
venture a rod from camp, therefore our fare was limited and we were solely
dependent on game and the exertions of our hunters for our subsistence.

       "The next night brought us all to camp with Holland still unheard from,
and only one turkey again with a little parched corn ground fine, sweetened, and
flavored with ginger, had to suffice.

       "The men became much demoralized at this state of affairs and greatly
agitated about Holland's long continued absence. They came to me and said they
would positively not stay any longer and must return to Springfield. We had
consultation with Barry who was urgently advised to give up or suspend the trip
and go with me as I had decided it was advisable to go in and useless to
continue without hands.

     "This proposition met not his approbation and unhappily for him he
declined, saying he would proceed with the work and that I could rejoin him as
soon as I had obtained hands in Springfield. This I promised to do as early as
possible and left him and started on foot as one of my pack ponies had killed
himself by stampeding with an ax which became untied and cut his leg so severely
that he died from bleeding.

       "We had not gone more than five miles from camp, all my men on foot,
(except an invalid who was riding the only horse left) when we beheld some
buzzards collected near a Cedar ravine.

       "No sooner noticed than I remarked, 'There is Holland's body!' He was
lying stripped of all clothing save one sock and so much mutilated by the
buzzards that we could not tell whether he was scalped or not.

       "Upon this sad realization of our forebodings I urged upon my employees
the necessity of returning to Barry's Camp both as duty to them and the safety
of our own party, as we had but two guns.

       "But demoralization had set in upon their hearts like some terrible
disease, only to be increased at the awful sight the harrowing spectacle of poor
Holland's body presented.

     "They would not consent to my proposition and nothing was left for me to do
but to move forward with them. We reached Springfield that night.

  "Early the next morning I called for volunteers to go back with me and rescue
Barry's party. Only two men, (Lamb and Sluglin) volunteered. We hurried back
without molestation and reached camp that night only to find it deserted. We
were at a loss what to do but hearing the barking of dogs (and knowing Barry had
two), we followed the direction and struck camp near ten o'clock on the further
side of Pin Oak Creek. We found them in great consternation at the death of
Barry who had been brutally killed that evening by Indians whom Barry had
discovered a mile distant on the prairie mounted on horseback and numbering
fifteen. He and his three men, mistaking them for Sparks' party attracted their
attention by waving their hats but alas! from the answering yells and rapid
charge they were found to be Indians. Then ensued a fearful race for life, they
being afoot and about as far from the timber as the Indians were from them.
Barry being in bad health was overtaken and slain. Being badly armed (not more
than half of us having guns) and having decided to return to Springfield
immediately we took advantage of the moonlight and like the Arabs of old did we
fold our tents and silently steal away.

       "Our party got separated during the night but by ten o'clock next morning
we all reached Springfield in safety where we found the little settlement in the
utmost terror and confusion not only from our disaster but from the equally sad
return of Sparks' party which having reached and left Springfield a few days
previously had proceeded to and camped upon Richland Creek a short distance from
Pin Oak. They then struck camp and proceeded to send out two men at a time to
look for us.

       "The second day while all were lying asleep in camp (except the two
scouting men), they were surprised and attacked by Indians. Sparks was killed
and the rest stampeded without horses, guns or provisions.

       "These annoyances from the Indians continued for a long time and although
our plans were frustrated after the results of these expeditions we did not give
up but in the fall made another attempt which proved more disastrous than all."

       The author of the above historical document played a prominent part in
the later history of Navarro County. After the organization of the county in
1846 Col. Henderson practiced law in Corsicana and was for years a familiar
figure in the community. His home was on what is now Seventh Avenue in
Corsicana. His son, Calvin, was one of the first white children born in the
present confines of Corsicana. Col. Henderson retained his vigor throughout his
life. One of his greatest pleasures was to sit and talk over the early days with
old friends during a session at a checker board.

      During the early days of Navarro County the diary of any one of the
inhabitants would have been very liberally interspersed with Indian warfare and
Indian "scares."

       One of the most fascinating of the early Navarro County frontiersmen was
"Buck" Barry. He lived in Navarro County several years - and was a prominent
figure. His home was where the present library now stands. He set out the large
Bois d'Arc trees which still stand between the library and the Y. M. C. A. When
he moved West A. Duren bought the home and reared his family there. In the
recent volume "Buck Barry - A Texas Ranger" by James K. Greer, there are many
interesting sidelights on early days in the territory which later became Navarro
County. He speaks of the fact that between the Trinity River and the Falls of
the Brazos only three settlements and one Indian trading house were to be found
but several camps of buffalo hunters, and in the same paragraph he mentions the
fact that the buffalo were in greater numbers along Chambers Creek, ten miles
below where Corsicana now stands, than at any other point in their varied
travel. This neutral ground abounded in game of all kinds. Indian tribes from
East and West hunted here, therefore there were frequent clashes.

       Until the Anglo-Saxon settlement reached considerable proportions the
Trinity River was considered the line of demarcation between the territory in
which the whites were welcome and the Indians' hunting ground upon which no
white foot could safely tread. This neutral ground was, however, particularly
dangerous to the white man because the Indian tribes were always at enmity with
one another and each felt the white man was a natural enemy and although the
woodland Indians were supposed to be friendly to the whites, with the exception
of the Tejas tribes, their friendship was somewhat undependable and any real or
fancied wrong might provoke sudden danger to the white settler. The prairie
Indian tribes, among whom were the warlike Comanches, resented the intrusion of
the white man from the very first and at all times were on the lookout for more
scalps to hang to their tent poles.

       During the fall of the year the lands west of the Trinity River became
good hunting grounds and from East of the Trinity there came the Cherokees,
Shawnees, Kickapoos, Delawares, Caddoes, Ionies, and Anadarcos to lay their
traps and with guns purchased from the traders kill sufficient game to last them
through the winter. From West and South of the Trinity on gaily decorated ponies
and armed with bows and arrows, and lances came the Tehuacanas, Keechis, Wacoes
and Comanches and any white men found in this hunting ground were exposed to
danger from any or all of these tribes whose hunting grounds were encroached upon.

       The Indians felt intense animosity toward the settlers who came to the
territory now embraced by Navarro County to locate their claims for land given
them as reward for participation in the revolution of 1836. These ex-soldiers
formed into groups and usually had with them one or more surveyors and surveying
instruments and it is easy to see why the Indian was anxious to put a stop to
this encroachment which had a semblance of permanency and why these early
surveying parties were met with animosity since the Indian realized it was the
opening wedge in an effort to drive him off his hunting ground and take from him
his means of livelihood. This feeling brought on such conflicts as the report
copied in full on the preceding pages and if a complete history of all these
conflicts were kept they would doubtless afford hundreds of similar instances
which occurred throughout the central part of Texas during the years of early
settlement.

       Here is W. F. Henderson's description of the second attempt to survey
Navarro County in the fall of 1838:

      "The surveyors headed by W. F. Henderson and Walter P. Lane, who
afterwards was Major of Hayes' regiment in Mexico, Samuel T. Allen, Asa
Mitchell, John Baker, Euclid Cox, James Smith, Thomas Smith, Richard Davis, Wm.
M. Love, Wm. Jackson, William Trimmier, Rodney Wheeler, and some other men by
the names of Baker, Violet, Ingram, Neill, Jones, Fikes (about 80 years old),
Hard, McLaughlin, Thomas, Barton and  Earle made another attempt in October of
that same year. It is surprising that they were not afraid to do this, with so
many Indians about and so soon after the other disaster, but they had the true
spirit of the American pioneer and fear seems not to have been a part of their
equipment.

       "There was no commander but all went along either as chain bearers or
locators and for mutual aid and protection.

       "From Franklin the company, mounted on horseback, passed up by Tehuacana
Springs on the Southwest branches of Richland Creek the scene of their labors.
On their way they met a great many Indians in small squads sometimes a half
dozen sometimes twenty or thirty all of whom professed to be friendly but all
betrayed by look or gesture a feeling of dissatisfaction arising from their
opposition to the survey of their favorite haunts.

       "On the next morning the work was begun, several lines were run, partly
in the timber, and partly in the prairie, the neighborhood being divided into
both, the country very broken with very many deep ravines.

       "The first night was spent in that vicinity at the home of Dr. George W.
Hill.* The next morning they went to work a few miles away.

  *The home of Dr. Hill was located 150 yards from Indian Springs.

[photos:
Top: This home now occupied by J. A. Dickson and sister, Mrs. S. E. Gray, ivas
built originally as a two-room cedar log house by Mish Clary. It was later
occupied by Nelson Pittman and finally by the M. M. Dickson family.

Below: The site of Indian Springs (Spring Hill), long since dried up.]


The compass proved defective at the outset and Henderson dispatched W. M. Love
and William Jackson back to Parker's Fort for a magnet, reducing the company to
twenty-two men. While the work was going on in the morning squads of Indians
were seen in every direction moving to and fro, others in apparent consultation.
It is strange that such indications did not alarm the little party but it seems
they had no idea of an attack up to that time. At eleven o'clock they struck
fire and breakfasted on a spring branch. About fifty Kickapoos camped opposite
them for the same purpose. Some of the latter crossed and told Henderson's party
that they would be attacked that day by seventeen Ionies. When the survey was
renewed they ran a mile into the the prairie and while making a corner twelve
Indians passed through them and one asked in English 'Is that a mile?' Another
pointing to the compass on the staff said 'Is that God's eye?' But all looked
displeased.

       "The next line was being run parallel with a deep ravine at about eighty
yards; the nearest timber being about a mile distant, when they were fired upon
from the ravine - the enemy lying under the bank and also concealed by the bushes.

       "Without the least confusion; for by now the surveyors were convinced
there was danger, they collected their instruments and formed so as to fall back
to the timber. Before this movement began, however, the Indians appeared from
every direction and immediately surrounded them and poured bullets and arrows
among them on all sides yet at such a distance as to do little execution. The
surveyors fighting their way bore for the timber but when a few hundred yards
from it they discovered that it was already infested by about two hundred of the
enemy. They then bore off obliquely to a ravine in the prairie and succeeded in
making a lodgment just before the junction of the two ravines skirted by small
bushes. Immediately at the point of the junction stood a Cottonwood tree and
about eighty yards below them there was water and several trees but the enemy
had made the position in advance of them. While on the retreat to this point the
party in the midst of the bullets and arrows held an election and chose Neill as
their commander. It was now about one o'clock p. m. Twenty-two men in a small
ravine in the open prairie were surrounded by at least three hundred Tehuacanas,
Ionies, Wacoes, Caddoes and Kickapoos. Soon after reaching the position Neill
was wounded and disabled and at his request Cox was made Captain.

       "A general fire was kept up on all sides but the chief execution was done
by Indians climbing the trees below and getting fair view of our men. In this
way every little while someone was either killed or wounded. Cox was a resolute
man and seeing the necessity of dislodging the enemy from the trees took an
exposed position on the bank behind the lone Cottonwood tree. He was killed and
again the band had no leader but it was mutually agreed that all would stay
together and each man use his own discretion in the defense. When Cox fell the
Indians rang a shout of exultation and the body made a charge but they met such
a deadly fire from rifles and pistols they fell back, yet again and again amid
hideous yells they made charges up first one bank then another and as often were
driven back with killed and wounded. During this state of the engagement about
fifty Indians on horseback made their appearance on a ridge about two hundred
and fifty yards distant occasionally beckoning the Americans and calling to them
'Kickapoos good Indians, come to Kickapoos.' This was believed to be a ruse to
decoy them but the old man, Fikes, exhausted and unable to fight determined to
test their sincerity saying that his days were few at best. He mounted and rode
toward them but was killed, whether by some of the others our men could not tell.

       "Davis being badly wounded pursued the same course and shared the same
fate.  In this manner the fight continued till eleven o'clock at night one
charge after another followed by a repulse, many an Indian being killed and our
party suffering considerably also. Twelve hours of intense and laborious
excitement with increasing numbers of the enemy, the suffering for water, and
the certainty of final annihilation in that position had brought the gallant
fellows to a state of desperation. A retreat of a mile through the prairie in
the bright moonlight was the only alternative. Most of them must fall but
possibly a few, probably none, might escape. Ingram, Jones, Violet, Thomas Smith
and John Baker were wounded up to this time in addition to the slain. They were
mounted on horse and surrounded by the remainder on foot and thus trusting to
stout hearts and a soldier's God they left the ravine and surrounded by three
hundred Indians afoot and on horse and amid the most deafening yells they slowly
advanced but with firm resolve of brave hearts toward the nearest timber which
skirted another of those ravines peculiar to that region.

       "One by one their number was reduced by death. Ingram wounded before the
retreat was shot in the head and fell from his horse. When they reached the
timber but seven of the original number were alive. John Baker and James Smith
escaped together at this point, eluded pursuit and got into the falls of the
Brazos. McLaughlin, a youth, instead of leaving the ravine with his brave
comrades secreted himself in some bushes and when the Indians pursued the others
he fled down the stream and finally reached the settlements on the Trinity
boasting of his shrewdness.

       "On reaching the timber Henderson, Lane, Violet and Barton still clinging
together fell into a dry branch and were hidden from their pursuers by
continuous bushes. Here they lay in silence for an hour during which time a
portion of the enemy continued their yells around them but finally retired and
all was still as death. To remain till daylight was certain death. Violet was so
badly wounded that he could only walk by the aid of one man one of his legs
being powerless. By perseverance they descended the branch some two miles and in
a thicket found some water. Painful as it was, Violet was left there with a
solemn promise that if the others should get in, relief would be hastened to
him. The other three, Henderson, Lane and Burton had but two guns, two pistols
and one Bowie knife left. They traveled till daylight in their measured pace,
Lane resting an arm on each of his companions. They lay concealed all the next
day without water. On the second day and third night having become bewildered
and their tongues parched they traveled over hill and dale they knew not whither
but no water was found. On the next day with swollen tongues and parched lips
they suddenly came upon six Kickapoo Indians. By this time their clothes were
torn in shreds, their emaciated bodies were covered with blood and Lane could
not articulate while Henderson and Barton were not much better. Five of those
Indians looked on them with frowns and asked how they came to be in such a
situation to which they replied with some deception that they had fought with
the Ionies. Henderson discovered an expression of compassion from the other
Kickapoo and offered him his Bowie knife to take them to water. The noble son of
the Forest looked compassionately upon him and lighting his pipe handed it to
Henderson adding 'Kickapoo good Indian, smoke with Kickapoo.' He then led them
about five hundred yards and imagine their joy at beholding that lucious
fountain of nature, the celebrated Tehuacana Springs.

       "After indulging in this beverage and some meat prepared by the Indians,
Henderson offered him his gun, all he had left, if he would allow Lane to ride
his horse and pilot them to Parker's Fort. He promptly accepted the offer and
faithfully performed his engagement. They got in the next morning. With poor
Violet this sketch, already too long, shall close.
     "A party piloted by William Love was at once sent to the poor fellow and
fortunately they touched at Tehuacana Springs also and what must have been their
surprise to find the sufferer there! Incredible as it may appear he had crawled
on his hands and feet and by a mysterious Providence he had just reached the
springs, when his deliverers arrived. He was taken in and finally recovered. The
little stream at the extreme head of which this bloody tragedy occurred has been
made to perpetuate it through the significant name of  'Battle Creek.'

       "As soon as these men got to Franklin the news was spread and by next
morning fifty men piloted by William Love started to the scene of the disaster.
They supplied Violet with all possible help and went to the battle ground to
bury the dead and to see if they could find any more wounded. When they reached
the place the wolves had stripped the flesh off the bones and they were gathered
together and buried."


An account from the memoirs of Gen. W. P. Lane:

       "A surveying party was being formed at Franklin, Robertson County, in
October, 1838. I went with William Love and others from San Augustine to join
it; all of us having lands to locate. We organized at Franklin, twenty-three of
us, electing Neil as captain, Henderson being our surveyor. We started via
Parker's Fort for Richland Creek where we intended to make our location. The
second day we camped at Parker's Fort which was then vacated having been stormed
a few months before by a body of Comanches who murdered all the inhabitants or
carried them off in captivity, the two historical Parker children being among
the number. We passed Tehuacana Hill on our way to Richland Creek and crossed
through a dense thicket to the other side of the Creek and encamped about a mile
on another stream (later called Battle Creek) where we would commence operations.

       "We found there some three hundred Kickapoo Indians with their squaws and
pappooses who had come down from their reservation in Arkansas to lay in their
supply of dried buffalo meat for the country then abounded with any amount of
game and from the hills you could see a thousand buffalo at a sight.

       "The Indians received us kindly as a great many of them spoke English. We
camped by them three days going out in the morning surveying and returning in
the evening to camp to procure water.

       "The third morning at breakfast we observed a commotion in the camp of
our neighbors.   Presently the Chief came to us and reported to us that the
Ionies (a wild tribe) were coming to kill us. We thanked them for the
information but said we were not afraid of the Ionies and said that if they
attacked us we would "clean them out" as they had nothing but bows and arrows
anyway.

       "They begged us to leave saying that if the Ionies killed us it would be
laid on them. We refused to leave but asked the Chief why, as he took so much
interest in our welfare, he could not help us whip the Ionies? He said they
could not do that as his tribe had a treaty with the Ionies. He begged us
feelingly to go but as we would not do so they planned a little surprise for us.

       "They knew where we had made a corner the evening before and knew that we
would go back there to commence work, so they put one hundred men in a ravine we
had to go by. We started out from our camp to resume our work, several of the
Indians going with us. One of them stuck to me like a leech and succeeded in
begging a piece of tobacco from me. Then shaking hands with me he crossed the
ravine within fifty yards from his friends who were lying in ambush for us. We
got opposite to them not suspecting any danger when about forty arose from the
ravine and fired into us, killing some of our horses and wounding some of our
men. Captain Neil ordered us to charge them which we did and routed them out of
the ravine when they fell back on a small skirt of timber fifty yards off from
which sprang up one hundred and fifty Indians and confronted us.

       "We retreated back into the Prairie. The Indians mounted their horses and
surrounded us and went 'round us in a circle firing into us. We got to the head
of the ravine in the Prairie and took shelter in it. The Indians put a force out
of gun shot to watch us while their main force went below about eighty yards
where the ravine widened and they had the advantage of the brush. They opened
fire on us and shot all our horses except two which were behind a bush to make
sure that none of us should escape.

       "The Indians had no hostility towards us but knew we were surveying the
land, that white people would soon settle there and break up their hunting
grounds so they wanted to kill us for a double purpose - none would be left to
tell on them and it would deter others from coming into that section of country
surveying.

       "Each commenced firing into the other up and down the ravine, we
sheltered by nooks and they by brush on their part. Euclid Cook got behind the
only tree on the bank firing at them.   When exposing himself he was shot
through the spine. He fell away from the tree and called for some of us to come
and pull him down into the ravine. I dropped my gun and ran up and pulled him
down. He was mortally wounded and died in two hours.

       "We fought all day without water waiting for night to make our escape but
when night came also came the full moon making it almost as bright as day. Up to
this time we had several killed and some badly wounded. We waited till near
twelve o'clock for the moon to cloud over but as it did not we determined to
make a break for Richland Bottom. We put our four worst wounded men on the two
remaining horses. As we rose upon the bank the Indians raised a yell on the
prairie and all rushed round us in a half circle pouring hot shot into us. We
retreated in a walk wheeling and firing as we went and keeping them at bay.

       'The four wounded men on horseback were shot off and we put other badly
wounded ones in their places. We got within two hundred yards of the timber
facing round and firing when Captain Neil was shot through the hips. He called
to me to help him on a horse behind a wounded man, which another man and I did.
We had not gone ten steps further when Neil, the wounded man and the horse were
all shot down together.   I was shot through the calf of the leg splitting the
bone and severing the leaders connected with my toes. I fell forward as I made a
step but I could support myself on my heel. I hobbled on with the balance to the
mouth of the ravine which was covered with brush into which four of us entered
and the other three took the timber on the other side. We had gone about fifty
yards down the ravine where it was dark and in the shade when I called to
Henderson to stop and tie up my leg as I was bleeding to death. He did so - cut
off the tip of my boot - and bandaged the wound. We saw about fifty Indians come
to the mouth of the Ravine but they could not see us as we were in the shade as
we went down the ravine. They followed and overtook our wounded comrade whom we
had to leave and killed him. We heard him cry out when they shot him and knowing
that they would overtake us we crawled on the bank of the ravine and lay down on
our faces with our guns cocked ready to give them one parting salute if they
discovered us. They passed so closely that I could have put my hand on any of
their heads. They went down the ravine a short distance when a Conch shell was
blown on the prairie as a signal for the Indians to come back.

       "After they had passed us we went down to Richland Creek where we found a
little pond of muddy water into which I pitched head forward having suffered all
day without water and also from loss of blood. We here left Violet, our wounded
comrade. His thigh was broken and he could crawl no further then. He begged me
to stay with him as I was badly wounded and as he said could not reach the
settlements, some ninety miles distant. I told him I was bound to make the
connection so we bound up his thigh and left him near the water.

      "We traveled down the creek 'til daylight, then 'cooned' over the dry
creek on a log so as to leave no track in the sand to a little island of brush
where we lay all day long. In the morning we could hear the Indians riding up
and down looking for us. They knew our number, twenty-three, and seven had
escaped. They wished to kill all so that it could not be charged to their tribe.

      "We started at dusk for Tehuacana Hills twenty-five miles away. When I
rose to my feet after lying all day in the thicket the agony from the splinters
of bone in my leg was so severe that I fainted. When I recovered consciousness
and before I opened my eyes I heard Burton tell Henderson that they had best
leave me as I could not get on and would greatly encumber them. Henderson said
we were friends and had slept on the same blanket together and he would not
leave me. He would stick to me to the last I rose to my feet and cursed Burton
both loud and deep telling him he was a white-livered Plebeian and in spite of
his one hundred and fifty pounds I would lead him to the settlement, which I did.

      "We traveled nearly all night but next day got out of our course by
following buffalo trails that we thought would lead us to water. The country was
so dry that the earth was cracked open. On the third day after the fight we
sighted Tehuacana hills. We got within six miles of it when Burton sat down and
refused to go any further saying he would die there. We abused him and sneered
at him for having no grit and finally got him to the spring. We luckily struck
the water one hundred yards below the spring where it crossed a weedy marsh and
was warm. Just as we got*in sight of the water ten Indians rode up to us. I saw
they were Kickapoos. They asked us what we were doing and I told them we had
been out surveying but had a fight with the Ionies and got lost from our
comrades who had gone another way to the settlement. They wanted to talk longer
but I said 'water! water!' The Chief said 'There is water.' I made for it and
pitched head foremost into the weeds and water on my face and drank till I could
hold no more. Luckily for me the water was warm. If I had struck the spring
above, the water would have killed me. Henderson and Burton were above me in the
water. In a short time they called me. I heard them but would not answer. I was
in the water covered by weeds and felt so happy and contented I would not have
answered for any consideration. Henderson and Burton got uneasy about me as I
did not answer and came down the bank to find me. An Indian saw me in the water
and weeds and waded in and snaked me out. I asked the Chief what he would take
to carry me to a settlement on a horse. He looked at me (I was a forlorn object
suffering from hunger and want of water; my eyes were sunk nearly to the back of
my head) and said 'Maybe so you die tonight.' I told him 'No' unless he killed
me.' He replied 'No kill.' He asked 'Want eat?' We said 'Yes.' He answered
'Maybe so. Camp in two miles. Come go. Squaws got something to eat'. He helped
me on a horse and we went to camp. The women saw our condition and would give us
only a little at a time. They gave us a wooden bowl of soup composed of dried
Buffalo meat, corn and pumpkins all together. Green turtle soup with all its
spicy condiments dwindles into insignificance when compared to my recollection
of that savory broth. When we handed back our bowls for more they said 'Bimeby'.
They waked us up twice during the night and gave us more. They understood our
condition, knew that we were famished and to have given us all we wanted at one
time would have killed us. We slept till next morning when we wished to start,
knowing that at any moment a runner might come into camp and tell them that it
was their tribe that had attacked us and as we were the only ones that could
incriminate them we must be killed. I traded a fine rifle of Henderson's for a
pony and saddle but when I started to mount him a squaw stopped me and said 'No,
my pony.' I appealed to the Indian who looked at me ruefully and said 'Squaw's
pony' showing that "Petticoat Government" was known even by the Kickapoos.

      "We started on foot, my leg paining me severely. We had gone about three
miles when six Indians galloped up to us on the prairie. I told my comrade our
time had come. We got behind two trees determined to sell our lives dearly. They
rode up saying 'Howd'y? We want to trade guns', showing an old dilapidated rifle
to trade for our good one. We soon found out it was trade or fight so we swapped
with the understanding that they would take us to Parker's Fort, about
twenty-five miles, on pony, which they agreed to do. An Indian went with us the
balance going back and taking the rifle.

      "We got near the Fort in the morning when Burton proposed to Henderson to
shoot the Indian who was unarmed and I could ride to the settlement. Henderson
indignantly refused and I told Burton that rather than betray confidence I would
walk on one leg. Five minutes later I heard a gun fired to the right. We asked
the Indian what it meant. He replied 'Cosette, Kickapoo Chief, camp here.' So if
we had shot the Indian we would have brought down a hundred to see what it
meant. He then told me 'Maybe so you get down, yonder is Parker's Fort. Me go to
Cosette's camp'. I did so. We struck the Navasota below the Fort and waded down
stream a mile fearing the Indians would follow us. We crossed in the night and
went out some three miles in the prairie and slept. The Indians that morning had
given us as much dried Buffalo meat as we could carry so we had plenty to eat on
our way. We traveled all next day and part of the night having got on the trail
that led to Franklin. We started the next morning before day. Going along the
path, I in the lead, we were hailed, ordered to halt and tell who we were. I
looked up and saw two men with their guns leveled on us about forty yards off. I
answered 'We are friends, white men'. I didn't blame them much for the question
for I was in my shirt and drawers, with a handkerchief tied 'round my head,
having lost my hat in the fight, and they thought we were Indians. They proved
to be my old friends, William Love and Jackson, who had left our party some six
days before for the settlement to get us another compass. They were horrified
when we told them of the massacre. They put us on their horses and returned with
us to Franklin, a distance of some fifteen miles. The news spread over the
neighborhood like wildfire. By the next morning fifty men were raised and,
piloted by Love, started for the scene of our disaster. I had been placed in
comfortable quarters at Franklin and kindly nursed and attended by sympathetic
ladies. Henderson and Burton bade me goodbye and went to their respective homes.

      "We told Love's party where we had left Violet with his thigh broken and
asked them to try to find him. The party got to Tehuacana Springs and being very
thirsty threw down their guns to get a drink. Violet who had seen them coming
across the prairie thought they were Indians and secreted himself in the brush
close by but when he heard them talk and found that they were white men he gave
a yell and hobbled out saying, 'Boys, I'm mighty glad you've come!' He came near
stampeding the whole party they thinking it was an Indian ambuscade. Poor Violet
after we left him in Richland Creek bottom stayed there three days subsisting on
green haws and plums. Getting tired he decided to make for Tehuacana Hills as he
knew the course. He splinted and bandaged his thigh as best he could and then
struck out. He got there after a day and night's travel. Being nearly famished
he looked around for something to eat. In the spring which was six feet across
he saw a big bullfrog swimming around. Failing to capture him he decided to
shoot him. He pulled down on him with a holster pistol loaded with twelve
buckshot and the proportional amount of powder. Having his back to the
embankment, down which the water ran, the pistol knocked him over senseless
breaking the ligature which bound his thigh. He remained insensible, he thought,
about two hours. When he became conscious he bandaged his leg again as well as
he could and crawled up to the spring to look for the frog. He found one hind
quarter floating around, the balance having been blown to flinders. Being very
hungry he made short work of that. In a few hours after that Love's party came
up and supplied him with all he wanted. They left him there until their return
they going up to the battle ground to bury the dead and see if they could find
any more wounded.

      "When they got there they found the bones of all our killed, the flesh
having been stripped off by the wolves. They also found, much to my
satisfaction, eighty piles of green brush in the lower part of the ravine from
which the Indians were firing at us during the day and under each pile of brush
was a copious quantity of blood which proved that we had not been fooling our
time away during the day.

      "The company returned to Franklin bringing Violet with them. He recovered
from his wound."

      The grave had been marked by stones and for many years was a sacred spot
and kept in memory by those who were citizens in Navarro and the story was kept
in the minds of the young by frequent repetition but time passed swiftly by,
each one busy with the affairs of life, and the memories of those brave men grew
dim until the son of one of the men who had not forgotten erected a monument to
the men buried there. This was John P. Cox who at that time, fifty years after
the tragedy, was County Clerk of Navarro County. The names of the dead buried
there are on the stone. The grave is in a field just a mile or so out Northwest
of Dawson.

      It was a tragic chapter in the history of the county and was a part of the
price paid for this present prosperous and happy country.

      About a year after this, a battle with the Indians was fought with Captain
Chandler and Lieutenant William Love heading about forty Texans. This was a
running fight and was continued for about ten miles. A number of the Indians
were killed while the Texans lost only one man. At the beginning of the
engagement the Indians began to retreat and ran to their encampment which was
stormed by the Texans. Nearly four thousand dollars worth of property was
recaptured.



Additional Comments:
Extracted from 

History of Navarro County
by
Annie Carpenter (Mrs. W. F.) Love

Southwest Press
Dallas, Texas

Copyright, 1933
by
Annie Carpenter (Mrs. W. F.) Love

File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/tx/navarro/history/1933/chapteri/introduc29gms.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/txfiles/

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